Believe Me, I'm Lying

A second, third, and fourth egg hit my chest as I stood from my desk, looking down at my shirt in disgust and shock. A fifth egg smashed into my collarbone, making me wince in pain. I managed to dodge a sixth egg.

“Stop it!” I cried, trying to get the yolk off my now dirtied blouse. “If another one of you throws an egg then—”

“Hey, Arden!” Oliver shouted, smirking at the mahogany boy. “Catch this!”

I watched as Oliver hurled an egg at the unsuspecting boy. Arden turned and was met with an egg to the face. A quick breath of air left my mouth as the egg broke, running down Arden’s face. That looked painful.

“You…” Arden growled, wiping off his face with a sleeve. “I’m going to get you for that!”

Arden picked up a few eggs from his table and tossed one up and down in his hand for a minute, before launching it at Oliver. Oliver laughed, dodging it with ease and retaliating with an egg of his own.

“Is that all you can do?” he taunted, smirking at Arden. “I’m not surprised.”

“If one more egg is thrown, you both have detention!” I threatened, trying to make myself sound more intimidating than I felt.

“Tucker,” Arden said suddenly. “You take care of her, okay?”

“Gotcha,” a voice responded from next to me.

I jumped in surprise and turned to come face-to-face with the dirty blonde. A gasp escaped my lips as I suddenly felt myself being drenched by ice-cold water. It ran into my eyes, and I quickly shut them. I pulled off my glasses and brought my hands up to rub the water out of my eyes.

“Dude, here’s the flour!”

By the time I had put my glasses back on and was able to open my eyes, I saw Tucker grabbing a bag of flour from another student. I gave him the hardest glare I could. Tucker only smirked.

“I’m a teacher,” I warned backing up a step, water trickling down my face. “Do you want a detention?”

“Do I look like I care?”

As soon as I opened my mouth to retort, Tucker swung the bag of flour towards me, making half of it fly into my face. The powder filled my lungs, making me choke immediately. My eyes were shut tight again, and I stumbled backwards, and into someone.

“Oi!” the person I ran into shouted, as he took a step back as well.

Before I knew what was happening I was on the ground, on top of the person who I had ran into. My glasses fell off, and I coughed again, trying to wipe as much flour out of my eyes as possible. When I was finally able to see again, I noticed the whole class was now in a lunatic flour, sugar, water, and egg fight.

“Will you get off me?”

I was suddenly shoved hard to the side, and I landed on the hard floor in an uncomfortable position, almost crushing my glasses. I quickly grabbed them and put them back on, before looking up. Oliver scowled down at me, pushing his body off the ground with ease. I blushed in embarrassment and anger, glaring at him.

“You’re in trouble,” I seethed through clenched teeth.

“So scary,” he responded mockingly. It was hard to take him seriously with his accent.

An egg came flying at me, and I barely managed to avoid it. Scowling, I attempted to push myself off the ground, but only managed to get myself halfway up before slipping on the mess on the floor. Laughter erupted from over me and I looked up to see Arden standing over me.

“You look so helpless,” he teased. “How old are you again? Twelve?”

“I’m twenty-one!” I responded, trying to push myself off the ground again. “Ugh!”

Suddenly I felt myself being lifted by my armpits off the ground with ease. Arden placed me on my feet, smirking in amusement. I straightened myself out, looking around the room again. It was a mess. And I was going to be in so much trouble.

“Well, teach, I’d get this class under control if I were you,” Arden commented, also making a sweep of the classroom.

“What do you think I’m trying to?” I responded in an irritated tone.

Arden smirked. “You not doing a very good job.”

“Maybe if everyone would just listen I would be!”

“Do you really expect us to listen to you?” Arden responded, laughing at me. “You’re crazy. If you want respect, you have to earn it.”

I scowled. Earn respect? I was a teacher! “You’re all in serious trouble.”

“Trouble’s my middle name,” Arden responded, putting a hand on my shoulder. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Will you help me?” I asked feeling panicked at the intensity of the food fight.

“Nope,” Arden responded. He then proceeded to crack an egg over my head. “But you looked so helpless on the ground, I couldn’t leave you there.”

I groaned in frustration, feeling the egg running down my head. The class was still in a full-on food fight. I was surprised people could still see; the room was filled with white dust from the flour. A few more eggs went sailing over my head and I had to duck to avoid them.

“Everyone, stop it!” I shouted, grabbing the nearest student’s arms and forcing them to stay still. “Stop right now!”

One of the students roughly ripped their arm from my grasp and I stumbled forward from the force. He scoffed, before launching an egg at someone from across the classroom. I looked at the other boy who I was holding on to. He smiled at me.

“Hi, I’m Zak,” he said. “You’ve got something on your head…”

I stared at him dumbfounded. No duh I had something on my head! I had something on me everywhere! I clenched my teeth together, narrowing my eyes at Zak. He raised an eyebrow at me, still smiling pleasantly.

“Zak, could you help me with something?”

“Depends,” Zak responded.

“Can you help me stop this madness?”

Zak laughed. “Afraid not, ma'am. Watch out!”

I didn’t have time to move and I gasped as more freezing water lanced across my back, then an egg followed it. Zak started laughing pointing at my face.

“You’re expression is priceless!”

“Enough,” I whispered, clenching my fists. “Enough!” I repeated louder, whipping around to face the classroom. “All of you stop it! You better listen to me!”

To my surprise, the entire room stopped and looked at me. It was actually quite a comical scene. Every single person was covered by flour and egg. One boy’s head was completely covered in white, giving him the appearance of an old person.

“Yes, Ms. Allen?” Oliver asked in a sweet voice, his English accent sounding stronger.

“If one more egg goes flying across the room, you’ll all have detention for a month,” I threatened, trying to glare at every individual.

Laughed erupted from across the room. I noticed Arden smirking at me, his arms crossed against his chest.

“You can’t expect us to take you seriously while you look like that,” he commented, his smirk growing.

“I’m completely serious,” I responded through gritted teeth.

“And completely covered in flour,” Zak sniggered from beside me.

“That’s not the point,” I started, frowning at Zak. “The point is—”

“I’m tired of your babbling,” Oliver complained, playing with an egg in his hand. “If you’re done talking, can we resume the food fight?”

My face flushed in anger. “Do you not understand I’m a teacher?”

“I’m not stupid,” Oliver drawled, rolling his eyes.

“Then respect me!”

A few boys in the classroom scoffed, rolling their eyes. I could feel myself growing more and more frustrated. My hands shook at my sides and I could feel tears pricking in my eyes from anger. I kept them in though.

Who did these boys think they were? Did they think they could get away after destroying my classroom? On the first day too! I was probably going to be fired now, and I really needed the job. Why couldn’t I have a class of well-behaved students?

Oh that’s right. This was a school for delinquents.

“I think we should give her a break,” a voice commented, breaking me from my thoughts.

“Why do you think that?” Oliver responded, turning to face Arden, a scowl on his face. “Sucking up?”

Arden grinned back. “Maybe.”

Oliver laughed scornfully. “That’s grand. The great Arden, sucking up to a new teacher.”

“You know what, Oliver?”

“What?”

Before I could protest, Arden had already flung an egg at Oliver. Oliver caught it with his hand, the egg breaking in the process. He shook the remains on his hand at one of the students behind him, before taking up an egg and flinging it at Arden so fast I could barely see it.

After seeing those two start fighting again, the other students took it as their cue to start again as well. Eggs, flour, sugar, and water were soon being thrown across the room again. I groaned, biting my lip to keep in control.

I just wanted to run away. I couldn’t deal with people that wouldn’t listen to me. I thought dealing with Elliot was hard! But these senior boys were proving to be something else entirely! Why wouldn’t they listen to me? I was their teacher! I had authority!

Something hard ran into my side, making me slip to the floor again. I growled in frustration, protecting my face with my hands before I made contact with the ground. The person who ran into me quickly stood up without an apology. I managed to get myself to my feet without help this time, and turned to glare at the person, but he was already mixed back into the crowd.

I looked around the classroom in despair. Ingredients were everywhere. The flour and sugar especially were all over the place. A sinking feeling in my chest suddenly appeared when I realized I’d have to clean this up.

Finally, my eyes focused on Oliver and Arden. They widened as I realized that Oliver was holding Arden by the front of his shirt, his fist raised threateningly. Was he kidding? Starting a fight in the middle of a food fight? And in class as well? My hands clenched into tighter fists.

I marched over to the two men, shoving a hand into each of their chests. Oliver immediately let go of Arden and glared down at me “What are you doing?”

“Taking order back,” I responded harshly. I drew myself to my fullest height, returning Oliver’s glare.

“But we were just getting to the fun part!” Arden protested from behind me.

“Oh we are still getting there,” I responded, turning to look at him. “You know what the fun part is though? You, Oliver, and everyone else in this classroom cleaning up my classroom.”

“Not happening,” Oliver muttered, rolling his eyes.

“I’m not sure how many times I’ve said this, but I’m positive I’ve made it clear that I am the teacher, and you are the student,” I said in a hard voice. “You listen to me, or you get a detention.”

“Getting a detention is nothing new.”

“I get a detention three times a week,” Arden told me in a cheerful voice.

Before I could say anything, the door to the classroom opened, revealing my uncle. His eyes widened in surprise and his jaw dropped as he looked around the classroom. When his eyes landed on me, I swear I saw amusement flicker in his eyes, until it turned to anger.

“Harley. What happened here?”

Immediately, I pointed my finger towards Oliver and Arden. “They started it.”

The two boys whom I pointed immediately dropped their stances, taking another step back away from each other. Another scowl appeared on Oliver’s face, while Arden looked slightly amused. My uncle sighed heavily, shaking his head. Oliver clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“I should have known it was you two,” my uncle said, frowning at the pair of men. “Both of you my office. Now.”

“Right away, sir,” Arden responded, mock-saluting my uncle. He put a hand on Oliver’s shoulder. “Shall we go, Oli?”

Oliver immediately shoved his hand off him. “Don’t touch me, and don’t call me Oli.”

“Someone is in a bad mood,” Arden taunted, following Oliver as he headed for the exit. “Are you upset you got in trouble?”

Oliver stopped, turning around and glaring at Arden. “Do you want to be killed?”

“Boys!” my uncle warned, giving them a stern look. “Go to my office right now, and if you fight you’ll be in bigger trouble than you are in already.”

Oliver clenched his jaw, looking around the room quickly. Our eyes met for split-second and he made an annoyed expression at me. I looked back in surprise. He was annoyed with me? He was the one who had started this food fight! He should be getting in trouble! He deserved it.

“See you later, teach,” Arden commented, waving at me before he disappeared out the door.

My uncle turned back to the class. “The rest of you are staying here to clean up this mess and you’re not allowed to leave until this place is spotless, and you all get a weeks detention. No discussion. Harley, you can go get cleaned up.”

My uncle took his leave without another word. I blinked, surprised at my uncle’s sudden harshness. The class must have been surprised too, because they stayed silent. Everyone was covered from head-to-toe in flour, sugar, eggs, and water. An amused smile broke across my face. I had to admit, it was a very hilarious sight.

“What do we do, Tucker?”

The dirty blonde one, Tucker, looked at me with a thoughtful expression on his face. After a moment he shrugged, turning back to the guy who asked the question. “Let’s just ditch.”

He started for the door and I automatically ran towards it, nearly slipping twice on the mess on the floor. When I reached it, I slammed it shut, putting my back against it and narrowing my eyes at the class. They looked back, surprise etched across their faces.

“You think you’re going to ditch?” I asked, directing my gaze to Tucker.

“I do believe so,” he responded, a smirk slipping onto his face.

I stared at him in disbelief. “You already have a week of detention, and you want more?”

Tucker started walking towards me, slowly, and menacingly. I stood my ground, drawing myself to my full height. There was no way I was going to be intimidated by these guys again. They were students. I was the teacher.

Tucker hadn’t even taken three steps before his eye suddenly widened in surprise and he fell over backwards, landing on the ground with a loud smack. I gasped, caught between amusement and worry. I mean, after all, he was my student and I had to keep him safe.

I stumbled over to his side and kneeled down next to him, holding out a hand. “Hey, are you okay—”

“Don’t touch me,” Tucker growled, slapping my hand away.

He shoved me away, making me fall onto my butt on the hard ground. I scowled as he pulled himself to his feet quickly, looking embarrassed. He nodded to the group of four guys, and together they started towards the exit of the classroom.

“If you leave, I’m adding another week of detention to your punishment,” I threatened.

“Do what you want,” Tucker responded, opening the classroom door and walking out. “See ya.”

The four students left the room after him, slamming the door shut. I stared at the door dumbfounded. They didn’t care at all they now had two weeks of detention? This was unbelievable!

“Need some help?”

I looked up to see Zak hovering over me, holding out his hand. I took it and he pulled me to my feet in one swift motion. I looked around the classroom to notice that four other people besides Zak were still in the room, standing around idle. One of them looked at me with a bored expression.

“So are you going to leave us to clean, or what?” Zak asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

I looked at him in surprise. “You’re going to clean?”

Zak grinned. “I decided you’re an okay person, so I’m going to help you from now on. These guys are too, right guys?”

A bunch of mumbled agreements followed Zak’s words. I stared at the bunch curiously for a minute, wondering what brought up the sudden change in attitude. Was it because my uncle had stepped in and enforced the rule? Well, whatever it was. I was glad.

“We’ll, the faster we work, the faster we’ll finish and be able to go home,” I commented, stretching out my arms. “Do you guys know where the cleaning supplies are?”

Zak looked surprise. “You’re going to help us?”

“Am I not supposed to?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “I was under the impression that if more people helped it’d get done faster…”

“No, no, no,” Zak responded, shaking his head frantically. “We need the help. It’s just you’re a teacher, so I thought you wouldn’t help since you don’t have to…”

“It’s not like I’m going to make you guys clean up by yourself.”

“But we’re part of the reason your classroom was destroyed…”

“And now you’re helping me clean it up,” I responded with a shrug. “In the future though, this better not happen again. I may look young, but I’m still a teacher, and you have to respect that… All of you.” I turned my gaze on the four students behind Zak. “Understood?”

All five men nodded.

“And since you guys actually stayed to clean, I’m waving your detentions.”

“You’re kidding,” Zak responded, a grin spreading on his face. “I love you already!”

“In return,” I continued, ignoring his remark, “you make sure that this never happens again, and the students are under control.”

The grin slipped from Zak’s mouth and was replaced by a frown. He sighed, scratching his head. “You’re new here, so I don’t expect you to know this, but…”

“But what?”

“How do I explain this…? Arden and Oliver are like mortal enemies,” Zak explained, his expression thoughtful. “Everyone knows that. Everyone also knows not to mess with Oliver or Arden, since they both can kick anyone’s but. They also each have a small group of followers…”

“Don’t tell me…”

Zak grinned. “I’m the second in command in Oliver’s group. Tucker is second command in Arden’s group. Hence, I can’t control what Arden’s group wants to do.”

“So Arden and Oliver are like gang leaders?”

“In a way. More like a school delinquent gang, nothing heavy like you see in the movies. Though the fights Arden and Oliver get into are pretty bad… and there are a lot of fights between them. Like the one you saw this morning. I was there. Remember? That’s a pretty normal occurrence.”

I groaned internally. Yes I remembered the fight from this morning. As if this school year wasn’t going to be as hard enough as is, but I was stuck with two school gang leaders in my class? I didn’t know if I could deal with that…

“Well, let’s start cleaning up,” the boy with the blue coon tails said, clapping his hands together. “We have a lot to do…”